Month: January 2016

I hope all of you have had a wonderful weekend and had a chance to take time to yourself and recharge from the week. I know I certainly did and I will now be spending my entire day in my school’s library getting all of my assignments and reading done, but I have no regrets because I feel ready to go for this up coming week.

After class on Friday I went and got a smoothie from Smoothie King because $5 Friday, duh. Anyways, after spending time at home I decided that I should just get some coffee and start on homework because all of my roommates had went home for the weekend. I sat down and was about to start homework when my sorority little and her boyfriend came into my room. I absolutely love spending time with both of them because our conversations are always interesting. So after about two hours of conversing about our past conquests they decided to head out for the night. From our conversation I learned that they had just as many adventures their freshman year as I did and we definitely had another bonding moment. So yes, while I should have been doing homework, I am extremely glad that I had time to live life and learn more about people. I am also really excited to see who we get to add to our litte sorority family at the end of this month.

So, after they left instead of working on homework, I went to train legs at the gym at until nearly 11 at night. This was very relaxing and I am glad that I took the night to my self.

So moral of this story is that despite my professors advice of not taking an entire evening to myself, I did and I feel more refreshed and ready to tackle this hectic week. In addition, there are worse ways I could have spent my night (like ways that resulted me waking up dehydrated and hung over). To conclude this rambling session of appreciation, my advice to all of you who have a very busy week is to take time to yourself and spend it with people who will help you grow as a person and learn more about life.

I have certainly been MIA for a little while, but it is recruitment season at my college so it has been very hectic. In addition, to recruitment classes have just started up. This semester will be my hardest semester yet, and therefor I am going to have to really know myself and how to balance school, sorority life and sanity.

This past week there have been lots of freshman girls roaming through the sorority complex hoping to find their new home. I was a recruitment counselor this year meaning that I was unaffiliated with my chapter so I could be unbiased and help the girls navigate recruitment. On Saturday morning I got to put my letters back on and welcome 16 new beautiful girls into my chapter. I am excited to see what their vision for Zeta is and I am excited to introduce them to our sisterhood that is weird, crazy, fun and loving. After lots of snacks, pictures, and the painting activity I had to head leave the new members behind to go up to the PLC and do homework.

Overall, I am glad that I was a recruitment counselor this time around because I have now been on all sides of the recruitment. While I do love work week with my sisters, I definitely liked the low stress environment of being an RC….also the food they gave us made it a pretty suit gig. I don’t know if I will want to do it again next year, but i have a whole year to figure that out.

So as you know I spent the majority of my break in the Florida Everglades on a canoeing trip. In my previous post I talked about just getting to the everglades, but that was just the surface of this trip.

After arriving at Flamingo campground we headed a few miles down the road to Coot Bay where we unloaded all of our gear and canoes and figured out how to organize that gear into the canoe and make sure that the weight was distributed evenly. It was definitely a game of tetras everyday.

My partner for the first day was Jameson. He was in the stern of the boat and I was in the bow. While I have been in a canoe before it had been a while and it was a bit harder than I thought to get coordinated. We as a crew paddled across the pond to the corner to a nearly invisible opening. Once we poked through the small opening we were into our first mangrove tunnel. It was pretty astonishing and we would have moved at a slower pace through it if we had not been swarmed by mosquitos. Little did we know it would just foreshadow our future experiences with mangrove tunnels to come.

After exiting the mangrove tunnel we paddled a bit farther and then we all gunneled up (tide together to look like a barge) for lunch followed by us getting out of the canoes to swim around our canoes to test our comfort level. Personally, I was still terrified that there was going to be some creature lurking near by ready to take my leg off. Getting back in the canoe was a bit of a challenge and required a bit of flexibility.

Our crew had a bit of paddling to do before we reached our destination for that night, Hell’s Bay Chickee. Farlin and Maggie (our course instructors) had one map and were making the calls since we were all completely clueless about how a compass works. When Farlin said that he had dropped the chart in the water we all looked around and just laughed because we thought he was just kidding…he wasn’t. So we had one chart left and the sun was setting. Both of these caused my anxiety levels to raise. Around 4:30 we asked if we should put on our bug layers, but we were told to wait…well we ended up going down the wrong creek and the mosquitos were the worst we had experienced. I have never seen so many people move so fast and so carelessly on the canoes to try and get their layers on. After getting out of the creek I began to panic because I knew the sun was going down and Farlin was not exactly sure where we were going. We did find where we were going and the stars were absolutely gorgeous. I have never witnessed so many stars in the night sky. Hell’s Bay Chickee consisted of two wooden platforms that had a roof, but no sides. When we arrived we tied up the canoes and unloaded the things we needed for dinner and the night (water jug, kitchen, propane, red bags, and food buckets). After dinner we strung a line across the chickee and set up our healy hammocks. Healy hammocks have enough room for one person and it is essentially a personal bug net. I was told not to touch the net by others during the night because the mosquitos would be waiting, but despite the warnings I accidentally touched the net and it definitely showed the following morning.

We woke up to the sunrise coming up and reflecting off the body of water. It was about 7am at this time and shortly after we were all being told to get moving and get packed up so we could make breakfast (oatmeal), make the float plan (where we had to go for the day), and get the canoes packed. We were on the water and on the move by 10:15. Paddling this day was not bad by any means because what was supposed to be about 16 miles turned into quite a different experience thanks to both the wind and the tides being in our favor. After going through the winding river and through Lane’s Bay we entered the beginning of White Water Bay. At this point wind was against us a little bit and it was the first time that we had come in contact with pretty large waves. We were able to paddle across to a side that was in the lee which allowed us to eat lunch and regroup. Upon starting to paddle again the wind was in our favor and we were able to actually sail. To do this we had to tie the canoes together and we used a tarp and some pea cord to allow us to use the wind. Sailing was very relaxing, quite and experience, and we got to watch the sunset in a whole new way. As the sun set though our ability to sail died, and we had to paddle with the stars overhead. We spent another night at the chickee.

The following morning though was not as glorious as the last because one of the crew members had gotten sick. Farlin had to paddle a canoe all by himself while the crew member Derrick tried to sleep and rest up. While we were paddling this day we saw several dolphins, a sting ray, and a manatee…oh and an alligator or two. We were able to stop at a chickee to eat lunch and use the porta potty. By this point we were grateful no matter the condition of the porta potty but we definitely rated them. Also Gold Bond was all of the girls favorite thing because our butts were pretty raw from being wet and sitting on them for such long periods of times. This night we had to make it to a camp ground. It was dusk when we made it to avocado creek which would lead us to the camp ground. This was honestly the creepiest part of the trip because birds were circling above, the mosquitos were out, the creek was narrowing and visibility was limited. We all described the experience as paddling to our death. By now though we were all used to setting up camp in the dark. From the water all we could see was a little wooden path leading back to a black abyss, but we just lugged our stuff back. After dinner it was the girls turn to wash the dishes so we headed back to the dock. Farlin had warned us about alligators and that we had to look for orange eyes. Of course we scanned the area and saw some…and then they started getting closer…and then they disappeared. At this time all four of us took off running back to Farlin. He made us go back to the dock and wash the dishes with him as he dunked them in the water. The next morning we found the gator just hanging around as we loaded up the canoes a little bit early than usual so we could have the tides in our favor.

The next morning after loading our canoe we had to back track avocado creek which was a lot less intimidating in the day light. I was partners with Troy today and I was sure it would be an adventure. After getting back into tarpon bay we took a small break to swim in the refreshing water that offered relief to our bug bite ridden bodies. Today we had quite a bit of ground to cover and a few mangrove tunnels to conquer. The first one we had to go through was wilderness waterway. It was quite smelly, buggy and difficult to maneuver. I honestly am blessed to have had Troy as my partner because he was motivated to get through it and not dilly dally. After making it through wilderness waterway we stopped for a quick snack and then we were off paddling with the tarpons which are huge fish that will fight to their death, but are terrible for eating. The next obstacle to tackle was the nightmare. This mangrove was adequately names. We all wanted to get through it before the sun was completely set so we started to move. We however miss judged and took a wrong turn that resulted in a narrow path and caused troy and I to end up out of our canoe and neck deep in the mangroves. I was frustrated and did end up crying a bit as we tried to get our canoe free from the grips of a mangrove. When we could go no further we had to turn around and back track. At this point the sun was setting and navigation was about to get ten times harder. In the tunnel it was hard enough to tell what way was the correct way in the light, but navigating ing the dark was ten times harder. We were all getting frustrated because it was dark, there was no clear path, our instructors would not help us, and people were having a hard time navigating. After lots of choice words, good navigating and a head lamp being lost we made it out of the nightmare and were greeted by sky full of stars. Our paddling was not done though and it was time to navigate into the Gulf so we could make it to the Highland beach (which isn’t really a beach, but more like hell). As we are paddling towards the Gulf I began to feel sick to my stomach and my PFD felt like it was constricting me. I told Troy and he told me to just stop paddling, but I felt bad so I just sucked it up and tried to breath through it. At this point Farlin came up to me and asked how I was doing and I began to cry a little because I was so scared that i was getting sick. Little did I know, but Maggie (our other instructor) was getting sick off the canoe as well. We pulled the canoes up at Highland and I got out and just laid down trying not to get sick. Farlin took two paddles and got my healy hammock set up so I could go to sleep…well, that didn’t happen immediately because I did end up running to use the Groover (our mobile bathroom) and then I got sick as well into the ocean all while being viscously attacked by mosquitos. This continued to happen through out the night, but I tried to get as much sleep as possible and choke down some water because I knew I had a long day of paddling ahead of me the next day. However, I woke up to Makenna getting sick and Maggie was still very ill. Makenna and I crawled into the tent where we fell asleep for nearly 24 hours only waking up to get water and when another crew member Mackenzie got sick. At this point 5 of us were sick and there was talk that the coast guard was going to have to come evacuate us. We ended up just spending an extra day on Highland Beach and I as I said it wasn’t really a beach. Then next day we were paddling and we crossed paths with the other crews. We kept paddling and that night we had to board up in Tom’s Bight. To Board up we have to tie all the canoes together and then we have to move everything out of one canoe and spread it to the others so the person can straddle the stern and pull the boards over their head and then we must put everything that we don’t need back in the canoe. After all the boards are up we put up a line to hang up our healy hammocks. Unfortunately in the process of setting up for the night it started to rain…rather pour. We had to issue our yellow rain gear and we just curled up in fetal position until it stopped raining. Luckily it stopped and we were able to sleep.

The next morning was pretty cold so I was glad to have my wool hat. We did not have very far to go that day, but the wind was very strong and the overcast sky was killing our mood. We were all very cranky and just wanted to get where we had to go. Upon arriving at the next beach we got put on solo day and it was raining. I had to set up my tarp in the rain and make sure that it was going to keep myself dry. I got set up and I was asleep before the sun was down. Solo day was a day that did allow me to reflect on life, but I don’t think it had me reflect more than any other day.

The day after solo day was a beautiful day and we all had a renewed energy because we were getting close to the end of the trip. We had 17 miles to travel that day and we all planned on paddling until 2am. If we did not get to the camp site we would have had to board up and that was not an option. The winds were strong, but our moral was high and we were able to make it to the campground in a little over 7 hours. When we were paddling the bioluminescence was crazy strong and there were jelly fish that would light up as we would hit them when paddling. It was a tight fit at the camp ground, but we managed and we all were excited to only have 8 miles left to basecamp.

The final day of paddling had us ready to go, but towards the end of the day we lost our motivation because we had become a bit nostalgic. Finally we reached basecamp at 4:30pm. Basecamp was on Sunset Island in Everglades City. We unloaded our canoes and set up camp for the last time. Over the next two days we spent more time together and reflecting on our trip and what we had just accomplished. I survived not showering for nearly 12 days and I survived not having my cell phone.

This was quite an experience, and I definitely learned a lot, but it is not something that I ever plan on doing again. I am excited to challenge myself some more and work on the things that I need to.

I encourage everyone to take time for themselves or to go on a crazy adventure to truly understand what they are capable of.

I have always grown up with dogs in my house, but they have never been mine. I know that when I graduate college things will be weird and foreign and I need a companion to help me get through and I hope to get a puppy like Thomas that will be my best friend for years to come.

Seven years ago, when my first marriage of fifteen years unexpectedly went belly up, I was involuntarily launched on what Joseph Campbell calls the Hero’s Journey. There are other names for this kind of experience. The writer Elizabeth Lesser calls it the Phoenix Process. Dante called it “the dark woods.” Whatever you call it, it’s a time of upheaval, pain, and eventually, transformation. And to be sure, the year I spent ending my marriage and recovering – perhaps from the marriage as much as the divorce – was one of the most powerful and potent of my life. I still look back on it with a sense of respect and awe.

What I didn’t understand for a long time, though, was that the year of my divorce was only the beginning of a much longer voyage. Life had a great deal more in store for me than merely the end of…

Sunday December 27th I had to be at the Kansas City airport by 4am because our plane to Atlanta was expected to take off at 5:45. Checking our luggage took a lot longer than was expected and so as soon as I got through security I didn’t even get to sit down before boarding the plane. I was lucky enough to get some sleep on the plane during our nearly two hour flight.

After arriving at the Atlanta airport several of us wandered around looking for food we settled on a place that I was able to get an egg-white spinach and cheese wrap. Upon inhaling that I found a spot to plug in my phone and then I laid across a couple chairs and passed out. Where I slept was not comfortable by any means, but I guess one could say that it was good preparation for what I was about to endure on this trip.

At 2 pm we took off with Ft. Lauderdale set at the destination. As one may or may not have guessed I napped on that plane as well. We all landed at the airport and I am sure that every girl made a beeline to the bathroom and then we all herded to the luggage claim. There we found some of the Outward Bound instructors. We had to take an airport bus to the airport and upon stepping off the bus a combination of the humidity and nerves I began dripping sweat. I began sweating because I knew the time that we had all been anticipating was coming next-we would find out who our crews would consist of and who we would be spending the next 13 days with.

They had us gather up in a circle and the instructors began to read off the names. I was not in the first group which had my good friend Larissa and I began to get nervous because I tend to be shy and I like to have at least one person I know. Next was the all girls group and I prayed that I would not be in that group for the sheer fact that while I may be awkward around guys I could not handle being around that many girls for that long and I know that it would make some aspects of the trip more difficult due to the fact that there would not be the guys to help with the physical aspects. To my surprise and satisfaction I was not in that group or the one after that. I was in the last crew which consisted of 3 boys and 4 girls including myself. Collectively we were all greek, but there 2 fraternities and 2 sororities represented.

After the names were read I was able to relax just a little bit because I did know the girls from class, but I knew that we would be a lot closer after the trip. Our group was one of two groups that would start at Flamingo camp ground and then paddle to basecamp. So we had a two and a half hour ride down to the tip of Florida and along the way I lost connection to the world.

Upon arrival at the campground we all saw a shooting star, but the overwhelming presence of mosquitos was concerning. We all raced to the bathroom with our suitcases to try and figure out the appropriate layers to put on to protect us from the pests that were waiting to strike outside. Dressed in long pants, long sleeves, thick socks, and a fleece we were semi-ready to tackle the outdoors. Following dinner we did duffle shuffle and moved our few clothes into our red dry bags that would be making the canoeing expedition with us. At this point we were all pretty beat and crawled into our tents and wondered what we were about to face the next morning.

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything, but I just returned from my Outward Bound 14 day canoeing trip in the Everglades. I have been up traveling since about 4am Florida time or 3am Kansas City time. I am definitely beat, and glad to be home but I have a lot to share and things to reflect on.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the new year and is having their weekend start off with a bang. I am absolutely exhausted, but don’t worry I won’t be falling off the face of the technology world anytime soon so I will be posting regularly now!